Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

CBER's Laboratory Quality System program receives accreditation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation has accredited the Laboratory Quality System program in the Center for Biologics and Evaluation Research (CBER) under ISO/IEC 17025 in the fields of biological and chemical testing.

26 Oct 2010

Inviragen commences Phase 1 clinical trial of DENVax dengue vaccine in Colombia

Inviragen, a company developing vaccines to protect against infectious diseases worldwide, and the Program for the Study and Control of Tropical Diseases (PECET), jointly announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial of DENVax™ in Colombia. DENVax is an investigational vaccine designed to provide protection against all four dengue virus serotypes. The trial will measure the safety of DENVax as well as the immune responses induced by the vaccine in healthy adults in Rionegro, Colombia.

25 Oct 2010

FDA approves Roche's real-time PCR COBAS TaqMan HCV Test, v2.0

Roche announced today that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the real-time PCR COBAS® TaqMan® HCV Test, v2.0. Clinical research organizations have depended on COBAS® TaqMan® technology to support hepatitis C pharmaceutical trials and development.

25 Oct 2010

Enrollment complete in ViroPharma's Phase 2 study evaluating subcutaneous delivery of Cinryze

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced that it has completed enrollment in its Phase 2 study evaluating subcutaneous delivery of Cinryze™ (C1esterase inhibitor [human]). This multi-center, open-label, multi-dose Phase 2 study is designed to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of subcutaneous versus intravenous administration of Cinryze in adolescent and adult subjects with hereditary angioedema (HAE).

25 Oct 2010

Chimerix to present CMX001 data for viral infections at IDSA Annual Meeting

Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, will present promising clinical data for CMX001 in a late-breaker poster session at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 48th Annual Meeting.

25 Oct 2010

FDA issues complete response letter for ViroPharma's Cinryze

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a complete response letter regarding Cinryze (C1 Esterase Inhibitor [Human]) industrial scale manufacturing expansion activities. The FDA has requested additional information related to observations from the pre-approval inspection and review of the technical processes.

25 Oct 2010

Study on H1N1 virus to be presented at IDSA annual meeting

The 2009/2010 Influenza A (H1N1) is one of several viruses responsible for respiratory-related infections. A new study from Rhode Island Hospital examined patients with viruses and found distinguishing characteristics of the H1N1 virus in how it affects respiratory illness. Their findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America to be held in Vancouver, Canada on Friday, Oct. 22.

25 Oct 2010

New research shows flu virus with D222G mutation can cause pneumonia

A variant of last year's pandemic influenza linked to fatal cases carried a mutation that enabled it to infect a different subset of cells lining the airway, according to new research. The study, due to be published next week in the Journal of Virology, suggests that the mutant virus could have impaired the lungs' ability to clear out germs.

25 Oct 2010

Hepatitis C from anesthetist case assumes new proportions

According to Victoria’s chief health officer yesterday, another 1,100 people would be screened for hepatitis C that could have come from contact with an infected doctor at more than one clinic.

24 Oct 2010

Researchers analyze drugs' efficiency on influenza A virus

Beating the flu has always been tough, but it has gotten even more difficult in recent years. Two of the four antiviral drugs used to treat a nasty case of the influenza A virus no longer work.

22 Oct 2010

AiCuris’ AIC246 inhibitor treats patient with multi-organ HCMV disease

AiCuris announced today that its novel HCMV inhibitor AIC246 has been used successfully to treat a patient with multi-organ HCMV disease caused by multi-resistant virus. Details will be presented at the 48th IDSA meeting on October 23, presentation number LB-38.

22 Oct 2010

Researchers suggest gene therapy may treat patients with major depression

In a report published in the Oct. 20 issue of Science Translational Medicine, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say animal and human data suggest gene therapy to the brain may be able to treat patients with major depression who do not respond to traditional drug treatment.

22 Oct 2010

NIH awards three new SBIR grants to Taiga

Taiga Biotechnologies, Inc. today announced that the company has received three new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health, totaling $1.7 million. This adds to the two previous grants awarded to Taiga for various applications of its proprietary technology platforms, for a total in NIH funding to date of over $2.1 million.

22 Oct 2010

UCLA researchers receive NIH grant to study HIV-positive men from LA County jails

A team of UCLA researchers has received a $4.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study ways to get HIV-positive men who have been released from Los Angeles County jails into medical care and on sustained treatment.

22 Oct 2010

Advaxis completes patient recruitment in ADXS11-001 phase II study for cervical dysplasia

Advaxis, Inc., the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) immunotherapy company, completes recruitment of the first group of patients in its US cervical dysplasia (CIN) phase II study of ADXS11-001 as required for the planned DMSB (safety board) meeting scheduled to be held January 11, 2011.

22 Oct 2010

Intercell and Romark announce IC41-nitazoxanide combination clinical trials for HCV

Intercell AG and Romark Laboratories L.C. today announced plans to commence clinical trials of Intercell's investigational therapeutic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine, IC41, in combination with Romark's antiviral drug, nitazoxanide, during the first half of 2011.

21 Oct 2010

LSUHSC receives NIH grant for research on cancer and infectious diseases

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans has been awarded $12 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on diseases like prostate and stomach cancers, lymphoma and leukemia, dengue fever, tuberculosis, and herpes infections, as well as to support the development of academic research scientists.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists find potential Achilles Heel in JC polyomavirus

The JC polyomavirus doesn't strike very often, but it's a mean bug that preys on people with weakened immune systems, including people with AIDS, and almost always kills them. Now an international team of scientists at Brown University, the University of T-bingen in Germany, and Imperial College in London has found a potential Achilles Heel and painted a target on it: The virus must bind to a very specific sugar molecule dangling from the side of the brain cells it attacks.

21 Oct 2010

Study on health effects of alcohol consumption with HIV

Living with HIV is difficult under the best of circumstances, but for people carrying the virus, alcohol consumption can become particularly perilous in intricate ways that are only beginning to be understood. At the Brown Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH) funded by a new $7.5-million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, Brown University scientists will study the health effects of drinking with HIV and provide doctors and patients with the latest guidance their results suggest.

21 Oct 2010

Researchers to study effect of reovirus on cancer cells

A common virus that can cause coughing and mild diarrhea appears to have a major redemptive quality: the ability to kill cancer. Harnessing that power, researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center, are conducting a clinical trial to see if the virus can target and kill certain tumor types.

21 Oct 2010